1,000
by tonbosan
Summary: First kiss.


1,000

"Hey pretty boy, aren't you a little young to be out on a school night?"

He nods, unable to keep from staring at her breasts, plump and tightly packed into the front of her sequined red dress, then looks away guiltily.

She rolls her eyes and takes a puff on a stub of a cigarette, exhaling wearily into the brisk February air.

"Well, what'll it be? 5,000 for a blowjob," she flicks her chin toward the alley behind them, "Double for an hour in a motel room. You pay for the room. Add on another 10,000 for each extra hour." She tosses the spent cigarette to the ground and grinds it under a stiletto heel. "Cash up front. No bareback. No freaky shit."

He swallows nervously and gazes up at her. Her eyes are tired, eyelashes obviously fake, lipstick slathered on too thick and too bright, brighter than her twinkling red dress. She looks like she's in her late thirties, but she's probably fifteen years younger.

"C'mon kid, pay up or walk away."

"Uh," he gulps, "H-how much, how much for a kiss?"

"A kiss?" She giggles, the sound reminding him uncomfortably of his elder cousin Miyu - his first crush. "Honey, I don't do kisses. You want a kiss, maybe you should try mommy."

"Please, m-miss?" he stammers, looking into mirthful brown eyes. "I don't have 5,000."

"Miss? Well aren't you a polite young man!" She giggles again, "Miss...haha, oh my!"

"Please? I've-I've never kissed a girl before." He hangs his head, afraid to meet her eyes after this admission.

"How old are you?" Her voice is softer, almost pitying. Almost.

"16." He can feel his cheeks growing hot. He doesn't dare look at her now.

She sighs. "I started working when I was your age. Seems like forever ago."

He nods silently, fingers fidgeting in his jeans pockets.

"Well how much you got, kid?"

He pulls out his wallet, clutching it like it would fly away from him if he didn't hold on tight enough.

"1,000."

She makes a dismissive noise in the back of her throat. "1,000. You came here with fucking 1,000. Do I look like a fucking crackwhore?" She grabs him roughly by the shoulders, shaking him. "Look at me. Do I?"

"N-no, I'm sorry, miss, please!" He looks straight at her, wide-eyed and feeling like a steaming sack of shit. 1,000. How could he have been so stupid? 1,000 wasn't even enough for a train ticket to Tokyo.

She lets go of him abruptly, and he's about to turn around and walk the hell away from what passes for his city's red light district, when she calls to him.

"Wait a second, kid."

He stops but doesn't turn around.

"New rule. 1,000 for a kiss."

He turns around, unsure whether or not she's joking. She stretches a long fingered hand out, palm up.

"I said, cash up front."

He steps forward, pulling the crumpled thousand yen bill out of his fake leather wallet with a shaky hand. He'd saved a portion of his lunch money for five weeks and in seconds it would be gone. All for one kiss.

She snatches it from him, nails crimson and dagger-edged, and shoves it into her top, which he figures is part of the whole hooker act. That and the stiletto-on-cigarette snuffing.

"C'mere honey."

He takes a faltering step forward, and then her arms are wrapped around him, fingers digging sharply between his shoulder blades. Her lips are full and sticky; his own are dry and probably already smeared with blood-toned lipstick. Then her tongue is in his mouth, probing past his teeth, brushing against the inside of his cheek, lapping at his tongue.

It feels strange...but good. He opens his mouth wider and inclines his head to the side, deepening their connection. He slips his tongue inside her mouth now, tasting a bitter blend of nicotine and weak beer. He caresses her cheeks with hands that have finally stopped shaking. He tangles his fingers in her hair and moans softly when she nips his lower lip, moaning again as she starts sucking on it.

Then suddenly it's over and he's panting and half-hard, breath foggy in the moonlight.

She smiles at him, winks, and pulls out a fresh cigarette.

"Didja like that?"

"Yes." He nods vigorously. "You're beautiful."

She laughs and lights up. "You're hilarious, kid," she says through a puff of smoke. "Now just imagine this mouth on your dick." She twirls the cigarette between her lips.

He grins sheepishly. "O-okay."

She exhales another jet of smoke. "What's your name, kid?"

"Tohru."

"Well, Tohru, come back and see me when you've got 5,000. You'll be in for a real treat."

"I'll do that," he says, grinning foolishly again. Then he turns and walks away.

It's a long way home and he soon grows incredibly sad, walking alone through a silent city on a cold winter night. He's broke now, and what does he have to show for it? Minutes ago he'd spent all his money on an expression of love that wasn't love at all. It wasn't even sex. Just a kiss. A little more than nothing.


End file.
